Early December is one of the best times of year to go to the Lake District (one of the best mountainous regions in the UK).

So we finished up a few jobs we needed to complete, and installed a couple more prototype bits of furniture and headed north to make the most of it.

The weather was perfect: very cold, with fresh snow on the hills, and a few flurries in the air. Clear blue skies, and air still enough to light a candle.

The only snag was that our gas installation was not quite complete, so we were without a gas hob, or our gas heater, even though 99% of the components had been installed.

So it was v-e-r-y cold inside the van. The temperature outside dropped to around -10°C at night, and it was certainly below zero inside. We didn’t have a thermometer, but the water in the dog bowl was a solid block of ice in the morning, and there was a layer of frost on the exposed metal parts of the van, and on all the windows.

So it wasn’t quite the cosy getaway we had hoped for, but we still had a great time, and it was lovely to be able to return to the van after a day’s walking for a hot cup of tea and a mince pie.

We were able to test out our rough version of the convertible bed-bench-table, which worked better than we had feared; our over-cab storage worked well for keeping our duvet, pillows and blankets; and the electrical system is mostly in place, so we had a working fridge, lights, USB chargers… — all the mod cons.

Well, except the heater. Brrr….